The Kittilä mine’s Community Liaison Committee was established in fall 2013 as a channel for promoting interaction between the mine and its stakeholders and for fostering our coexistence with the local community. This allows us to provide the stakeholders with information on our operations and plans. At the same time, stakeholder representatives have an opportunity to ask questions and express any concerns, thus facilitating our work together to find solutions.

The Community Liaison Committee convenes two or three times a year. Currently, the committee has nearly 30 members, including representatives of the municipality of Kittilä, Kideve Kittilä Development, Visit Levi, the Kuivasalmi reindeer-herding cooperative, local villages, and environmental-protection association Kittilän Luonto. In addition, other experts may be invited to the meetings to introduce topics and themes that are of interest to the stakeholders.

“The committee is a positive thing because its operations bring together the representatives of the municipality, the mine, and collaboration partners, enabling dialogue and information flow while also offering up-to-date information for all parties,” explains Kittilä’s Acting Mayor Antti Jämsén.

The committee held its 20th meeting via the MS Teams application, marking the first time the committee convened online. The one-hour meeting was attended by 18 members.

As usual, the mine’s General Manager Tommi Kankkunen provided the latest news from the mine and Environmental Manager Jaakko Saukkoriipi offered an overview of environmental matters, related plans, and the permit situation. Senior HR Manager Kaisa Saarijärvi told the other participants about our measures for preventing the coronavirus from spreading. Among the other matters discussed at the meeting were the coronavirus situation in Kittilä and a project to renovate the Köngäs–Hanhimaa roadway.

The representative for the village of Lintula, Mauri Toivola, who currently lives in southern Finland’s Karkkila but spends long stretches of time in his former home village, considers the committee a well-functioning and useful communication channel. “The committee meetings offer information on the situation at the mine and the plans for it. I pass on this information to people who own a holiday home in Lintula and couldn’t otherwise keep up to date on the latest news,” says Mauri, adding, “I normally travel to Lintula to attend the meetings, but people of my age must stay at home now because of the pandemic.” However, taking part in the meeting was easy even from a distance of 1,100 kilometers!

We decided to hold a meeting on permit-related matters in June, before our scheduled meeting in August. Let’s hope we can see each other in person then!